Change-speed gear.



No. 840,055. PATENTED JAN. l, 1907. F. A. FERGUSON. CHANGE SPEED GEAR.

APPLIGATION FILED MAE.17, 1906.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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A TMR/v5 ys PATENTED JAN. 1,' 1907.

P. E. PEEEUEON. CHANGE SPEED GEAR.

APPLICATION FILED MARA?, 1906. y

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INVE/vok A yrTo/ENEYS nkAJpelyzzSa/z WIT/m5555- No. 840,055. PATENTED JAN. l. 1907.

' E. A. FERGUSON.

CHANGE SPEED GEAR.

*APrLIoATIoN FILED 11113.17, 190s.

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f v v Hwa/VE KS Unirse sri-irse PATENT ormoni;

FRANK A. rss niort or BELLEVILLE, KANSAS.

meanest-sesso Gees.

No. $40,535:?. Specification of ,r'pplicction filed Merch 17,1906. Serial No $16,661.

distance between the shafts issuch that' there isms. space into which one ormore combined.

To all w/tom t rita/y,- chimeric: Be it lm own that l, het s citizen of the United Belleville, in the count 1' of Republic and `Sttte of denses, have 1 useful Uhangetpeed L lowing is s specincati The present invention relates to s change speed device whereby onelo more soeeds in forward direction e speed or vicev'erszucnn loew. dined, andis l useful in autoinohile-drving systems in the source of power is en esplosivi-renc... e. `While the invention will be described in this connection, it is obvious that it is capable ol' use in other Aapplications. lts object is' to provide a device this character which is simple in construction and reliable in opere-- tion.

For a detail understanding of the features of construction and the inode ol operation sttention is directed to the following description, while the features of novelty will bc pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

in the accompanying drawings, which illustrate one embodiment of which the in vention is capable, v'ltigures 1 to 3, inclusive, ere sectional views through the cl1ange-speed gear of a two-spced forward type, showing the gears in diilerent positions. big. l is a transverse view showing the reversing-gear. Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are longitudinal sections ol a modilied form of gear for obtaining threeaf Ward speeds, and liig. S is a transverse sction through the modilicd form of gear. Fig. 9 illustrates a. modilication of the invention wherein the driving-shaft is hollow and is mounted on the engine-shaft, provision boing made for coupling the shafts to secure one speedsnd for eecting the driving. at other speeds through the. means of :t counter-shaft. ltelerring to the drawngs represents the shaft of an engine of `the ordinary explosivo type. Arranged parallel to tthe siait 6 is a second shalt 7, which receivesrota -ion at one or more speeds in one direction and a single speedinreverse direction through the changespeed device herein shown. Suitable actuetingdevers and intermediate connecting mechanism for shifting the gears for obtaining the diereut speeds or direction of r tation' are employed, but src not shown inthe present cese for clesrness of illustration.

Referring to Vlli-gs. 1 to 3, inclusive, 11 is an externelljhtoethed gear keyed to the driven Stat-es, residing et l l moved, one

Letters Patent.. Patented remi-,1907.

clutchnd gear members are adaptedV "oe4 at e. time, for eitherhigh or low ieedt, rlhese members nreshown et 1.3 and ,spectively The member -lis prt vided with external teeth which are-adapted to niesnjn'ith the teeth of the gear 12mm are preferably of the semelengtlgas the teeth on the latter, and simil adapted to mesh with" the 'teeth' on the gear 1l. 'lfhe central portion Aot each ineinber is rentrsnt, forming s cylindrical shrines having internal teeth'l, lwhich are 'adapted to mesh with the teeth of the gears l1 and i and serve as means for clutching the member iB-with the gear 11 and the member 1e with the gear 12. The interna-l teeth of the members 13 and 141 arevot'less length the'n'the ex latter teeth will engage their'respective gears 1i and 12 before'the ciutch action takes place'. The driving sind driven gears 11 and 12ers preferably .located in the same rtrun'sverse plane, since by teeth or thev members 13 and 14 can he rieduced to a minimum. The members 13 andI 1d, which are loose on their respective shafts, are ger-.l1 provided with a grooved portionl at their hubs, in the grooves ofwlnch s. bifur-y ceited end' ol a suitable"actnatihgllever (not shown) engages. u j Y 'lhe position which theg'ears, occupyin Fig. 1 represents Va condition 'wherilthe engine .is running idle. When it is desired to start the automobile, the combined yclutch and gear memberv 14 is thrown A into mesh with the gearslland l2, as shownin Fig. ,2, sothet thedrivenshaft 7 is rotated at: the low llhen it is desired to change to high pce'd, the member 14 is unclutched andthe mem ber 13 moved into engagementA with .-the gears 11 and 12, as shown'inhig. This operation may be". performed byshi'fting the member ,1 3 to the "right,', Fig. movement the member itself disengages the member 14', or it .can be donebyltwosepsrate operetions--naniely,

teeth'hre adopted to mesh simultaneously shaft' 2f., Th diameter ofeach gear or the with-the geersvll and,12. 'A

er teeth oh the member tcrnal teeth -ontlie seid members, so that the" so doing -the lengt-'hfof'the first fhsengcging the member 14' and v irr'u'nedietely throwingin.-

driving and driven shafts, andv its en the gears a-pivo't 1 8, whose ms iis parallel (Isl IOO

` this case and being provided at one end With high speed,- as shown in are thus in mesh, the drivenshaft 7 Will be rotated in a reverse direction.-

In a :onst-ruction for obtaining a higher number of speeds than is possible with the construction above described I employ sets of -combined clutch and gear members which are adapted to be separately actuated by independent` levers. This constiuction is shown in Figs.'5, 6, 7, and 8. A low-speed set of members is indicated at 19 and a highspeed set at 20. By this arrangement when the set 19 is thrown into mesh with the gears 11 and 12 both members of the set act as'a unit and drive'the driven shaft at a minimum speed, and when'thehigh-speed set is thrown into mesh it also drives the driven shaft 7 at Fig. 7. When it is desired to obtain a speed intermediate high and loWo ne member of one set is thi-own into mesh with the corresponding member of the other set and at the saine time into mesh with the gears 11 and 12, as shown .in Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 shows a construction similar to that shown in Fig. 4 for obtaining a reverse .drive in the three-speed construction.

In the construction shown in Fig. 9 the en ine-shaft 6 is shown as extending through a riving-shaft 7 the' latter being hollow in a pinion or clutch disk 30, with which may engage -a clutching member 31, having intertogether to secure uniform movement.

" mounted on'shaft 6'.

nal teeth, saidclutching member 31 being featheredto the shaft 6 and provided with suitable grooved sleeve 32 for effecting movement toward and from the pinion 30. rIhis affords a means for clutching the two shffkts ie shaft 6 further carries a pinion 12 and member 14 of the character shown in Fig. 1, and With this may engage a pinion 11 and a inember 13 of the type illustrated in Fig. 1, that is In this case the operation is the same as previously described, and movement may be transmitted from the shaft 6 to the counter-shaft 34 at either high or low speed. The shaft 34 carries a pinion 3G, which may be forced into mesh with a gear 36", that is loose onfthe driving-shaft 7 and is provided with internal teeth for engaging the pinion 30. W'hen it is desired to transmit movement to the counter-shaft, the member 31 is liept out of engagement with the pinion 30, While member 36 is moved into engagement therewith, and then the high and low speed connections may be adjusted as desired. For the intermediate speed the counter shaft connections are moved to inoperative position and the meinber 31 is moved into engagement with the pinion 30.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed isv1. A change-speed gear including parallel shafts, gears secured to the shafts, and permanently separated from each other, and a member carried by one of the shafts and ad instable in the direction of the length of said shafts, said member being arranged to engage both gears and transmit4 movement from one to the other.

2. A change-speed gear including parallel driving 'and driven shafts, a iixed gear on each shaft, the gears being arranged. in. the same transverse plane and permanently sep-, arated from each other, and a combined clutch and gear member carried by one of ,tli'e shafts and mova'ble' into clutching engagement with the gear of the same shaft and into mesh Withthe gearof theother shaft.

A changaspeed device comprising parv allel driving and driven shafts, gears keyed .thereto and permanently separated from each other, a-coinbined Aclutch and gear memberonveach shaft which when one is in mesh With the gears drives the driven shaft at high speed and when the other is'vin mesh drives y y the said4 shaft at a lower speed.

4. A .change-speed gear, comprising parallel driving .and `driven shafts, gears keyed thereto and arran ed in the same transverse plane, 4a combine clutch and gear member rotatable with and longitudinally movable on each shaft, and separate means for actuating said members. l

5. A change-speed gear, comprising parallel driving and driven shafts, gears mounted thereon Which `are permanently separated from each other, a combined clutch and gear member Inova-bly mounted on one of the shafts and Arotatable therewith which is adapted to connect the gears in operative relation for forward rotation, andan idler-gear adapted to connect the driving and driven gear in operative relation for reverse rotation.

6. A change-speed gear, comprising parallel driving and driven shafts, gears mounted thereon which are permanently separated, and a set of combined clutch and gear members on each. shaft which are each adapted to be connected as a unit With the said gears for driving the driven shaft'at diil'erent speeds.

7. A change-speed gear, comprising parallel driving and driven shafts, gears mounte thereon which are permanently separated, a set of combined clutch and gear members on each shaft which are each adapted to be connected as a unit with the said gears for driving the driven shaft at different speeds,.and an idler-gear mounted tomesh with the gears onthe driving and driven shafts forrotating the latter in reverse direhction.

8. A change-speedlgear including a pair of shafts gear and clutching members, the latter being provided with internal teeth of 'such length as to insure disengagement of one member before` a second lmember can be moved to operative position. g

9. In a change-speed gear, parallel shafts, gears permanently secured thereto, com- IOE e RIO bined clutch and 'gear members carrie-(l by the shafts and movable into mesh with one of the gears, and into clutching engagement l with the other gear.

l0. A change-speed gear including parallel shafts, gears permanently secured to the shafts, and combined clutch and gear members loose on the shafts, and each provided with internal clutching-teeth, said members being disposed, respectively, `on opposite 'sides of the permanent gears and having their clutching-teeth arranged to prevent simultaneous engagement with the gears.

In testnnony that elalm the foregomg as my own I have hereto a'Hixed. my signature in 1 5 W. H. BELL, C. E. STiLWELL. 

